Nyquist out of Classic, his rocky post-Kentucky Derby career a reflection of so many other champions

The mythology surrounding Nyquist was crushing. Here was a horse that not only couldn’t lose, he couldn’t be passed.

His road to the Kentucky Derby was filled with brilliance, overcoming a troubled trip in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, outdueling Exaggerator at Santa Anita, humiliating an unbeaten Mohaymen on his home track in Florida and then finally winning the Kentucky Derby in movie-script fashion.

That was the last race he ever won.

On Saturday, the racing book was closed on the only horse besides Seattle Slew hoping to be only the second horse to win the Triple Crown undefeated. Trainer Doug O’Neill said his prized 3-year-old would not run in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita after he developed a puffy ankle following a lackluster work on Thursday.

“He walks completely sound and his X-rays are clean,” O’Neill said, but there was not enough time fo get him ready for the Classic. The official announcement on his retirement is expected to be made early in the week by Darley America in Lexington, Ky., where Nyquist will stand stud.

“After winning this year’s Derby and being undefeated [to that point], Nyquist will go down as the best horse I’ve ever been blessed to have trained,” O’Neill said.

That’s a tall compliment, considering O’Neill and owner Paul Reddam took I’ll Have Another to Derby and Preakness wins in 2012 before an injury forced the colt to be scratched one race short of the Triple Crown.

Nyquist, who lost his three races after the Derby, is a textbook example of what often happens to horses after they win the Kentucky Derby. It remains a mystery why horses with seemingly unlimited potential can suddenly lose their edge after winning the most recognized horse race in the world.

“Let’s look back at the last 20 years of [Kentucky] Derby winners,” said Jerry Bailey, a hall of fame jockey and NBC Sports horse racing analyst. “Four of them were injured, four of them retired and went right to stud shortly after the race. Who does that leave? Only four — Animal Kingdom, Silver Charm, Real Quiet and American Pharoah — who went on to any kind of sustained success.”

Even California Chrome, the presumptive favorite in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, won only one of his last four races as a 3-year-old after the Preakness. He followed that up with a disastrous 4-year-old campaign in which he ran only twice, losing both. As a 5-year-old, however, he has been nothing but spectacular with six straight wins against very good competition.

Of the other Kentucky Derby winners in the last 20 years that weren’t injured or retired, four of them (Orb, Super Saver, Mine That Bird and Giacomo) never won another race. Funny Cide won only one of 13 races after winning the Derby and Preakness.

“They’re athletes, just like human beings and they have psyches,” Bailey said.

He drew a comparison to the decline of David Duval, who dramatically fell from being the No. 1- ranked golfer in world to a fringe player shooting in the 80s.

“Are the ones that are great for a while and then they lose, are they never the same mentally?” Bailey said. “I think what happened to Nyquist in the Preakness [getting caught in an absurdly fast speed duel, leaving him vulnerable in the stretch] was a factor … and yet he battled back like crazy in midstretch. When the ones that are so good try and are beaten, do they lose their confidence? I think they do.”

Looking at this year’s 20 Kentucky Derby starters, five, including Nyquist, have been retired and two more haven’t run a race since May.

After finishing a game third in the Preakness, Nyquist took some time off and returned to finish fourth at the Haskell Invitational, a race his owner now says he should have never run. Then there was a very disappointing and puzzling sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby.

“To be candid, our whole team was very confident he was going to run a big race in the Pennsylvania Derby,” Reddam said. “He laid an egg.”

Reddam agreed the Preakness could have been the turning point for Nyquist.

“It’s possible to say he got cooked in the Preakness,” Reddam said. “He gave all that he had, maybe that broke him as a race horse. He was truly a great 2-year-old champ. And he showed who he really was in Florida and Kentucky.”

Kerry Thomas of THT Bloodstock, who combines the skills of a psychologist and kinesiologist while advising owners on motivating and understanding horses, sees this as just a part of equine life.

“In nature, it’s a pretty short cycle of being elite in the herd,” Thomas said. “They just cycle out by nature. Perhaps that’s what happened here. …

“Mental and physical battles at that high a level for any amount of time takes it out of you. It’s more common than you think. It’s Mother Nature’s way of giving the herd a new stallion.”

Thomas went on to praise Nyquist’s career.

“He was unshakable for a long period of time,” Thomas said. “That’s pretty rare. All these battles have caught up with him. There is no shame in that. He’s one of those rare athletes that we need to take a step back and take our hat off to him.”

After the Preakness, Nyquist came down with a fever and never made the trip to New York for the Belmont. He rested for a couple months and was entered into the Haskell at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

“I saw him in the walking ring and it looked like he dropped a lot of weight,” Reddam said. “You could see his ribs. There was a growth spurt. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have run him.”

O’Neill also noticed the growth and weight loss.

“We sticked [measured] him in the spring and he was 16 hands,” O’Neill said. “Right after the Haskell he was 16.2 or 3. He had definitely grown. Still, his appetite was strong but you could see he had thinned out.”

From there it was more rest with a plan to either run him in the Pennsylvania Derby or the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

“Our expectations were through the roof in Pennsylvania,” O’Neill said. “I really don’t know what happened. That was real head scratcher for every one of us. … Whether it’s Nyquist or a lower-level horse, you just go back to the drawing board.”

Regardless of what happens after the Kentucky Derby, Nyquist — along with every other Derby winner — has provided their connections with enough good feelings for a lifetime.

Reddam was asked if he would be OK with having one Kentucky Derby winner every five years, knowing the other years would be extremely fallow.

“Absolutely,” Reddam said. “How long did it take me to answer the question? Did you even finish your question?”

O’Neill was right there with the same perspective.

“In a heartbeat,” he said. “Sign me up. It’s one of those where there is such a buildup, and then the race and the post race. It carries you for months, years, the energy, the barn morale. There are a lot of lows and highs in this business, more lows. The fact that we could win it twice shows how lucky and blessed we are.”

Reddam is nothing if not practical. Even his doctorate dissertation was titled “Pragmatics and the Language of Belief.”

“When I’m 85, I’ll remember when we won two Derbies,” said the 61-year-old Reddam. “Whenever I have the blues, I put on a tape of the Kentucky Derby and I feel much better.”

That’s something no subsequent race can ever take away.

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